Jack Renner, Rob Friedrich, Michael Bishop, and Bob Woods of Telarc International with the ATC (Acoustic Transducer Company) SCM150. Telarc has chosen the ATC 5.1 system for location monitoring. CLEVELAND, OHIO: Founded in 1977, Telarc International launched digital recording in 1978 and was one of the first companies to produce CDs. Now the company offers a catalog of wide-ranging musical genres and for the last four years has been recording in high-definition surround using the DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording technology developed by Sony and Philips. The resulting product is the Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD), and the company boasts a rapidly growing and highly acclaimed catalog of releases in this new format. To accurately monitor the ultra high resolution of the DSD technology, Telarc has installed a multi-channel monitor system from ATC (Acoustic Transducer Company) Loudspeakers at its Cleveland facility and has taken delivery of a portable ATC 5.1 system for monitoring while recording on location. "We feel like we're finally hearing the detail of our work for the first time," says Telarc president Bob Woods of the installed ATC monitor system. "As a professional studio product we've never encountered anything quite like it. You want something that's accurate, but to have a system that can handle all types of musical programming equally well is downright remarkable. We do as much popular music these days as we do classical and jazz, especially through our new label partner, Heads Up. The ATC system handles it all without flinching." The installed system comprises five ATC SCM150A active three-way speakers and two 12-inch, 1000W Sub1/12 Pro subwoofers. Five ATC SCM20ASL two-way nearfield monitors and a 15-inch SCM0.1 subwoofer provide accurate monitoring for location recording. Telarc recording engineer Michael Bishop reports one immediate benefit to switching over to the new system, a process that was very simple. "Starting over on a whole new system would usually be fairly difficult, but this was incredibly trouble-free. The thing that's immediately apparent about the ATCs is how effortless it is to mix a record on them. The mix decisions are easy, especially with such things as the relative levels of vocals to orchestra and challenging instruments in the mix. The whole process goes that much faster." The Grammy Award-winning engineer continues, "Everywhere that I've played the mixes they've translated perfectly - something I haven't experienced with other systems previously. And they're extremely easy on the ears. You can listen for long periods at high levels without becoming fatigued." Woods concurs: "I like to listen at levels that are consistent to those of a live performance. If I'm dealing with something like a full orchestra, where the decibel levels are quite high, the ATC don't wear me out and the detail of the soundstage remains stable." "There are lots of systems that literally hurt when you push them," Bishop adds, "especially when you're dealing with a very wide spectral band, like that of a full orchestra. Many speakers jumble-up the inner detail, particularly in the mid and upper-mid range, and in the high frequencies - it just becomes ugly. The ATC's are able to hold together even at very high levels without losing inner detail." "Even better, however, is how you can bring the system down to really low levels and it still stays balanced. This is a really tough test for speakers. Can you still hear a good proportion of bottom to top and the detail within at such low levels? You can with the ATCs." Bishop reveals that he intends to use SCM150s for front-left and front-right monitoring and SCM20s for center and surrounds on location. "That would be a pretty typical on-the-road monitor setup when recording a full orchestra. I can do that with the ATC speakers because they all have the same sonic footprint and signature. The ATC design philosophy is consistent across all of their monitors, which gives great flexibility to mix and match different models for multi-channel monitoring." According to Bishop, the controlled dispersion of the SCM20s also offers a distinct advantage in location studio use. "Particularly when you have the speakers on or behind the meterbridge, you want to try to minimize the speaker bouncing sound off of the console. Having a fairly narrow vertical dispersion helps minimize that. If we raise the speakers up enough and aim them just right we can easily minimize the reflections off of the console and take advantage of that controlled dispersion." Telarc now records all of its projects using the DSD process, which employs a sample rate of 2.8MHz or 64 times that of a standard audio CD, so accurate multi-channel monitoring is very critical. "You've got to have something you can trust when you're on location," says Woods, "especially when we use minimal miking approaches. If you start moving microphones to make the speakers sound better, you're dead!" |
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